Multipurpose vertical domestic extraction hood

ABSTRACT

A vertical domestic extraction hood ( 100 ) for air containing vapours and fumes from a hob during food preparation includes a parallelepipedic extractor body ( 1 ) containing within it functional components to draw in the aforementioned air, with the extractor body ( 1 ) having on one side ( 5 ) an opening ( 7 ) for discharging the air drawn in and filtered and on another side ( 8 ) a different opening for extraction of the air to be filtered. A panel ( 12 ) is provided at a distance from front side ( 10 ) in front of one said front side ( 10 ) of said extractor body ( 1 ). The hood ( 100 ) includes a sensor for monitoring airborne substances that is arranged in such a way as not to be directly in contact with the extracted air and is able to detect at least one characteristic of such extracted air or the air from the environment where the hood is located.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The following documents are incorporated herein by reference as if fullyset forth: Italian Patent Application No. 102018000004052, filed Mar.28, 2019.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a vertical domestic extraction hood.

As is well known, there are different types of extractor hoods forresidential kitchens and the present invention relates to a specifictype of hood commonly defined as “vertical”. A hood of this type isdescribed for example in EP 3 228 941, in the name of the sameApplicant.

The essential feature of a vertical hood is to ensure correct andefficient extraction performance, while maintaining a small footprint inthe depth direction. Typically, in fact, the vertical hood is made up ofa functional body containing a known extractor unit to which a panel orcompletely flat surface having an axis perpendicular to the wall withwhich the hood is associated is mechanically connected. This surfacedefines the front and perimetral air capture zones of the hood.

This surface is the area most exposed to interaction with the user, somuch so that, normally, a user interface with the usual controls typicalfor the functions of an extractor hood, such as setting the speed of themotor of the extraction unit or turning the usual light sourcesassociated with the hood on and off, is placed in a frontal position onthe panel.

The panel is placed in front of one front face or side of the functionalbody or extractor body.

In general, in recent years extractor hoods have increasingly seen theincorporation of new functions to improve general comfort andperformance during the food preparation process. One of the mostwell-known is that of providing a functional connection between theextractor hood and the hob (in the case of induction hobs) toautomatically activate the extractor hood according to the number ofactive elements and the specific heating power used.

This solution has its limits however, because a “rigid”, i.e. direct,wired or wireless connection, has to be established between the hood andthe hob, which will be linked to a precise communication protocol.

In addition, the hood/hob assembly works on the assumption that whenmore electrical power is used on the hob there is more need to draw upunpleasant odours generated by the cooking process. This is not alwaystrue however, as there are cooking processes that take place even on lowheating power but which still generate smells for which it would benecessary to use more extraction power. The known solution may nottherefore be able to act effectively to draw fumes and/or vapours fromthe hob when these low-power cooking processes are carried out on it.

Moreover, the advent of new technologies related to the connectivity andusability of web-based multimedia content is increasingly leading to theincorporation of systems connected to the internet, cloud computingservices, as well as generic multimedia content, into all householdappliances. However, physical, mechanical and electrical/electronicincorporation of the devices needed to ensure these services with the“conventional” functional part of the hood is not without difficultiesand problems. One solution, in fact, as described in WO2005/052453 inthe name of the same Applicant, provides for the physical incorporationof several devices including monitors, interface systems andconnectivity systems that constitute a complex architecture which isdifficult to maintain as well as difficult to manage from the point ofview of component obsolescence.

SUMMARY

The object of the present invention is to provide a vertical hood thatovercomes the above limitations present in the solutions in the knownart.

In particular, the object of the invention is to provide a vertical hoodthat incorporates new features that improve performance and comfortduring the process of food preparation and cooking.

Another object of the invention is to provide a vertical hood equippedwith a front panel and incorporating all the control, interface and usefunctions for every connectivity and external (internet) or internalmultimedia service in the home environment while reducing or simplifyingthe architecture of the hood.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a hood of thetype indicated above whose suction unit can operate automaticallyaccording to the actual production conditions of the volatile organicsubstances from the hob that contribute to forming the odours related tothe cooking process without the need to have rigid communication, basedon a fixed protocol, between the hob and the hood.

Another object is to provide a hood of the type mentioned in which theautomatic extraction function can be performed by the hood regardless ofthe type of hob, which also comprises the possibility of working incombination with not only induction or electric, but also gas hobs.

Another object is to provide a hood of the type mentioned that alsomakes it possible to monitor the quality of the air in the environmentor kitchen in general, in order to monitor the presence of certainpollutants, measure temperature and humidity and consequently operatethe hood in “air treatment” mode even when the process of foodpreparation is not in progress.

A further object is to provide an extractor hood of the type mentionedabove that also enables the actual condition of typical cookingprocesses such as boiling water or frying or adding alcohol to bemonitored, and also identifies undesirable cooking situations such asthe burning of fatty substances, as well as the type of source of heatproduction used by the hob (if a gas or induction hob).

A further object of the invention is to provide a hood of the mentionedtype that “communicates” with the hob so that it can automaticallymodulate the heating power of the individual heating elements of suchhob in a closed loop to keep the entire food cooking process undercontrol.

A further object of the invention is to provide an extractor hood thatcan also be controlled in voice mode.

These and other objects that will be clear to those skilled in the artare achieved through a vertical domestic extraction hood according tothe principal claim.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention there are attachedpurely by way of non-limiting example the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a front perspective view of a hood according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the hood in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows an exploded perspective side view of the hood in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to the above figures, a vertical hood 100 according tothe invention comprises a parallelepipedic extractor body 1 containingthe usual and well-known functional components (such as the fan, one ormore filters, etc.) designed to draw air from a hob 2 (shown by way ofexample), said air containing fumes and/or vapours generated by thepreparation of food placed in corresponding containers (not shown) onthe heating elements 3 of such hob 2.

These heating elements may be of any type, such as gas, electric orinduction.

On one side 5 (the upper in the figures), body 1 of the hood has anopening 7 to evacuate the air drawn in and filtered. This opening 7 canrelease air directly into the environment or the kitchen where the hoodis located or be connected to pipes and/or ducts that transfer thisextracted and filtered air to an outlet outside the environment.

In addition, extractor body 1 has an opening for the entry of air drawninto the body itself on at least one other side, usually lower side 8.

On front side 10 of extractor body 1 there is a panel 12 which, in apreferred embodiment of the invention, is of a multipurpose type: it hasa touch screen 15 that occupies at least a portion (or even all) of afront side 16 of panel 12 (facing the user); this screen 15 at leastserves as the interface with the user who commands and controls theoperation of hood 1 through this screen. This control may also beprovided in voice mode through the usual electrical componentsassociated with the panel. Through this screen the user may also takeadvantage of advanced services such as viewing media content, webservices or the air monitoring function that will be described below.

The body 1 is connected to the panel 12 in any known way (by electricalcable or data communication, wireless, Bluetooth, or the like), just asthe panel 12 is connected to the internet (for example, via wi-ficonnection so as to benefit from all web and cloud services) in anyknown way.

The extractor body 1 and the panel 12 are mechanically independent ofeach other, but are linked together while allowing rotary movement ofthe panel (arrow F in FIG. 2) with an axis of rotation K perpendicularto a median axis M of such panel.

More specifically, the panel 12 comprises a rear side 20 (opposite frontside 16), an upper side 21, a lower side 22 (facing hob 2), and oppositelateral sides 23 and 24. Near the upper side 21, the rear side 20 ofpanel 12 is associated with at least one hinge 25 (preferably at leasttwo, see FIG. 3), also fixed to the front side 10 of extractor body 1,each hinge permitting the rotation described above. Advantageously thismay be assisted by a hydraulic piston (not shown) with the ends hingedto the sides 10 and 20 respectively of the body 1 and the panel 12.Other actuators of such rotation, also remotely controlled, motor-drivenor manually activated, may of course be provided.

A spacer 26, close to the lower side 22 and associated with the rearside 20 of the panel 12, ensures that the extractor body 1 and saidpanel are correctly parallel to each other, while maintaining a gap orspace 29 between them. A secondary extraction area towards the extractorbody 1 (containing the extraction unit) is thus defined by this gapalong the entire perimeter of panel 12.

From the rear side 20 of the panel 12 there projects a box element 31delimiting a space for locating the usual electrical or electronicelements that allow multipurpose operation of the panel 12, all of thehood 100 from the extraction point of view, as well as elements thatenable the panel 12 to be connected to the internet or to a possiblehome network to which other appliances or other household facilities areconnected.

A cover element 32 is then placed between the box element 31 and thehinges.

As may be seen in FIG. 3, within a free flat face 33 of the box element31 (facing the gap 29) there are one or more air-capture grilles 38 atone of which, within the element 31, there is placed a sensor formonitoring airborne substances, of a type which is in itself known andnot shown. The location is specifically chosen to make the sensorinteract only with the air drawn in around the perimeter so that thesensor itself is not in contact with the direct extraction flow thatnormally passes through the filtering area located in the lower part ofthe (extractor) body 1. This location makes the sensor readings morereliable over time as it is not directly in contact with the fattysubstances and oils in the extracted air which might cause the sensoritself to deteriorate.

Obviously, several monitoring sensors may be provided at thecorresponding grilles.

Each sensor is connected to a control unit of the extractor hood (notshown).

Each sensor is able to monitor different categories of substances in theair such as: VOC (volatile organic compounds), CO, CO₂, NOR, CH₄ andsolid particles. It is also able to monitor environmental parameterssuch as temperature and relative humidity.

Such a sensor provides an overall air quality index that takes intoaccount all the measurable parameters by assigning a specific weightingto the various pollutants and also averaging its value with respect tocomfort parameters such as temperature and humidity.

Even when the hood is not in use for the specific object of extractingthe vapours and smells generated by the cooking process, each sensormonitoring airborne substances is able to monitor the quality of theambient air (that is, of the kitchen) and if placed in “auto” mode isable to activate automatically when particular pollutant thresholds thatbring the overall index below ideal values are exceeded.

The (microprocessor) control unit associated with each sensor or,alternatively, each sensor (if equipped with its own microprocessorunit) is able to aggregate the various substances monitored intospecific recognition “patterns” for the cooking process, such as thecurve for boiling water or frying with oil, and also recognisesappropriate cooking thresholds avoiding the typical burning of food orover-high frying temperatures. This high sensitivity ensures that thehood functions automatically according to the actual amount of “smells”that are being generated, consequently adjusting the correct extractioncapacity, regardless of the type of hob that is being used, and notrequiring a connection of any kind between hob and hood.

However, as an additional feature, when the hob and hood are connectedthe hood can automatically generate a feedback signal to a standard hobcontrol unit on the basis of the recognised cooking patterns, to adjustthe heating performance of each active heating element and preventunsuitable cooking processes such as overheating when frying thatgenerates undesirable substances or typical burning, as well as, forexample, indicating that the boiling threshold has been reached.

Thanks to this invention, a vertical extractor hood for domestic use isprovided, is improved with respect to known hoods and is capable ofcontrolling the air drawn in and/or the air in the environment in whichit is placed, which, among other things, can also permit possiblecontrol of the residual filtering capacity level of the filter orfilters of the hood itself, evaluated according to analysis of the airdrawn in made after such a clean filter or filters has/have beeninserted into extractor body 1 of the hood.

Also, as mentioned, thanks to the invention it is possible to monitorfood preparation on the hob and also act to control the heating elementsof the hob itself without the need for special physical connectionsbetween the hood and the hob. Control can be applied regardless ofwhether these components are electric or gas (burners); in the lattercase it is possible to act on the usual solenoid valve located on thegas pipe supplying the burners to reduce the heating power (flame)delivered.

The invention comprises components (body 1 and panel 12) that areinterconnected, but mechanically independent of each other; in this wayone or all of the parts of each of these components can be independentlymaintained and replaced, if necessary.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been described. However in asimplified embodiment the panel 12 may not have a touch screen, but maystill be equipped with one or more sensors for monitoring airbornesubstances. Also the connection with the hob is an option which anembodiment of the invention may lack.

Finally, the sensors monitoring airborne substances may be placed in anyposition on the panel 12 or in the body 1 (obviously so as to be able todetect the air) as long as they are not placed in a position (as forexample on the side 8 of the body 1 or side 22 of panel 12) where theyare directly exposed to the flow of air drawn in. This is because of thereasons described above (reliability of detection and to preventdeterioration of all the sensors).

These variants of the invention also fall within the scope of theinvention as defined by the following claims.

1. A vertical domestic extraction hood (100) for extracting aircontaining vapours and fumes coming from a hob (2) during foodpreparation, said hood comprising: a parallelepipedic extractor body (1)containing within it functional components for drawing in air, saidextractor body (1) having an opening (7) on one side (5) to dischargeair drawn in and filtered and on another side (8) a different openingfor drawing in the air to be filtered; a panel (12) at a front of afront side (10) of the extractor body (1), the panel (12) being at adistance from said front side (10) so as to form with it a space (29)between said extractor body (1) and said panel (12); and a sensor formonitoring airborne substances arranged so as not to be directly incontact with the air drawn in and able to detect at least onecharacteristic of said drawn-in air or air from an environment where thehood is located.
 2. The hood according to claim 1, wherein the sensorfor monitoring airborne substances monitors air present in the space(29) between the panel (12) and the extractor body (1), said sensorbeing associated with at least one of said panel or said extractor body(1) in a position facing the space.
 3. The hood according to claim 2,wherein the sensor is associated with a part (31) of the panel (12)present on a rear side (20) thereof facing the extractor body (1), saidsensor being within that part and located at a respective grille (38)provided on a free flat face (33) of such part (31) facing the extractorbody (1).
 4. The hood according to claim 2, wherein the sensor isassociated with at least one of the panel (12) or the extractor body (1)on a side that does not face the hob (2).
 5. The hood according to claim1, further comprising at least one of: said sensor for airbornesubstances is adapted to monitor one or more of the following substancespresent in the air: VOC, CO, CO₂, NOR, CH₄; or said sensor for airbornesubstances is adapted to monitor parameters of the environment in whichthe hood (100) is located, including at least one of a temperature or ahumidity of that environment.
 6. The hood according to claim 1, furthercomprising a screen (15) on a front side (16) of the panel (12), thescreen (15) is configured as a user interface for use of the hood (100),and a command and control unit of the hood (100) connected to said paneland to said screen (15) and being adapted to generate media content onsaid screen (15), said command and control unit being connectable to atleast one of the internet or to a home communication network so as to beable to communicate with other appliances connected to a same network.7. The hood according to claim 6, wherein the command and control unitis connected to a control unit for the hob (2) and is adapted to controlpower generated by each heating element (3) of the hob (2) according todetected characteristics of the air monitored, and said control of thepower enabling the cooking process for a food placed on such hob oversaid heating element to be controlled.
 8. The hood according to claim 1,wherein the functional components of the extractor body (1) designed todraw in air are operated according to characteristics of the airdetected by the sensor.
 9. The hood according to claim 1, wherein saidextractor body (1) and said panel (12) are independent of each other,said panel (12) being fixed by hinges (25) to said body (1) so as torotate with respect to the body about said hinges.
 10. An assemblycomprising the vertical domestic extraction hood (100) according toclaim 1 and a hob (2) having a number of heating elements (3), saidvertical domestic extraction hood (1) comprising the sensor formonitoring airborne substances and a control unit to which said sensoris connected, said control unit is also configured to control anoperation of said heating elements of the hob according to themonitoring of airborne substances performed by said sensor.